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Fall 2018 Volume 14, Issue 1

Biology Dept. Chair:

Athula Wikramanayake, Ph.D.

Gifford Arboretum Director:

Stephen D. Pearson

Aldridge Graduate Curator: Timothy Perez

Gifford Arboretum Advisory Committee: Michelle E. Afkhami PhD. John Cozza Ph.D. Julie Dow Juan Espinosa-Almodovar Linda Evans Kenneth Feeley Ph.D. Javier Francisco- Ortega PhD Dolores Fugina Leonard H. Goldstein M. Patrick Griffith Ph.D. Roger L. Hammer Carol C. Horvitz Ph.D. Adrian Hunsberger Gary Hunt Chad E. Husby Ph.D. Eleanor Lahn John Lawson David Lee Ph.D. Teddy Lhoutellier Alan Meerow Ph.D. Craig Morell Larry Noblick Ph.D. Peter Ostrowsky Patty Phares Jennifer Possley Chris Rollins Sue Steinberg Christiane Tyson Ron Weeks Steve Woodmansee Scott Zona Ph.D.

The Gifford Arboretum: Today and in the Future By: Steve Pearson, Arboretum Director

This newsletter marks my completion of 7 years as Arboretum Director. I

love the Arboretum, and trying to make it better has been fun and meaningful. How-

ever, recent health problems have limited my ability to work with the plants as much

as they need. My health is slowly improving and, after a short rest, I am looking for-

ward to a new chapter in my life. But my days of hard, physical labor needs to end, or

at least be significantly reduced. I hope the latter because physical activity with plants

and nature has always been a joy for me. While working with the Arboretum’s plants

was the most fun aspect of being Director, the most fulfilling part was occasionally

getting someone to appreciate plants, nature or science more. Cudos to the Biology

Department for their ongoing work in that regard. The need has never been greater.

With your help, we have seen an end to the threat of a road through the Arbo-

retum, and the Arboretum has been expanded. Construction of a new greenhouse is

scheduled to start in April, 2019 and a sustainability garden has already taken off in

portions of the new area. I anticipate that, following the greenhouse construction, ad-

ditional parts of the expansion area will be available for increasing botanical diversi-

ty in the Arboretum. Although our pine rockland area will sadly be only a thumbnail,

I anticipate that additional areas might include things like aroids, bromeliads, aquatic

plants, or other plants that would increase educational and/or research value.

I believe that academic and non academic use and appreciation of the Arbo-

retum has increased in recent years as we published a new catalog, created new sign-

age, and expanded the collection and programing. However, I worry that the Univer-

sity’s administration still doesn’t truly appreciate the value of the Arboretum. Hope-

fully, they learned a lot of lessons from Irma and will soon finally complete a “gated

road for service vehicles only” between the old and new Arboretum areas that is

needed to protect the Arboretum and pedestrians, not to mention complete its obliga-

tion to Coral Gables. Maybe even add the Arboretum to freshman orientation? But,

unless its football or involves big money, things move VERY slowly here. Even

though my retirement has been pending (and even deferred once), no one has yet

been hired to replace me. I am afraid that things will slide backwards, especially

since some plants are still recovering from Irma or showing delayed affects. The long

term objective should be for the Director to be an academic appointment, accompa-

nied by a post doctorate assistant who does research in the Arboretum and a full time

horticulturist that also helps the University manage other areas, particularly the Pal-

metum and the Alexander Biome (which should also be added to the Arboretum). In

the short term, the minimum goal should be to hire a full time Director who is paid a

living wage and that has both the administrative skills to continue existing programs

and horticultural skills that are sorely needed by the University. If progress isn’t

forthcoming soon, I hope that all of you will speak out about the need to keep care of

the Arboretum and fully utilize this valuable resource. A university should also be

about teaching proper values, and the University should aspire to be a leader in

setting a good example for students, staff and the community in all it does.

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Geographic Origins of the Gifford Arboretum’s Living Plant Collections

By: Timothy M. Perez, Gifford Arboretum Curator & Ph.D. Candidate in Biology

Arboreta and botanic gardens are often places where people go to escape the hustle-and-

bustle of their surrounding urban centers. Within these gardens, visitors can enjoy diverse col-

lections of plants, sometimes originating from distant places. Species from different geographic

regions are likely to have evolved in unique communities of plants, animals, and climates.

These factors, and others, ultimately influence plant growth forms, flower colors, fruit types,

leaf shapes, and other adaptations that augment the aesthetic qualities that we come to associate

with plant species and gardens. Although one objective of the Gifford Arboretum is to maintain

a representative collection of diverse and culturally important plant species, appreciation for the

geographic origins of garden species can easily be overlooked.

Visitors to the Gifford Arboretum that are curious about the origins of a given species

can simply view the identification tags mounted on each tree. However, with roughly 500 spe-

cies it is hard to develop a complete picture of the overall geographic extent represented by the

Gifford Arboretum’s living plant collections. To help illustrate the geographic and climatic di-

versity of the Gifford Arboretum’s collections, I included two images within this article. The

first image shows a map that represents the geographic coverage by our plant collections, and

the second depicts the different biomes that are represented within the arboretum.

To depict the geographic diversity represented within Gifford Arboretum, I obtained

publicly available occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF;

www.gbif.org). Occurrence data are simply the geographic coordinates where a given species

has been documented. These data are particularly useful to conservationists trying to predict

where to locate certain species or selecting habitat to protect. After obtaining the occurrence

data for each species, I combined them and plotted them on a map. Figure 1 shows the occur-

rences for all of the species in Gifford Arboretum. In this context, the geographic extent repre-

sented in Gifford Arboretum’s collections can be better appreciated. For example, it can be seen

that the Arboretum contains

species from every continent

with the exception of Antarcti-

ca. Furthermore, despite Mi-

ami’s subtropical climate, the

Arboretum contains species

like Acer rubrum (red maple),

a Florida native that also has

populations as far north as

Canada and has been intro-

duced to Northern Europe.

What is also clear from this

map, and comes as no surprise,

is that the Gifford Arboretum

doesn’t contain species that are

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representative of extremely high latitudes with cold climates. Nevertheless, it is still surprising to learn that

the Gifford Arboretum contains some species that are representative of temperate latitudes.

An alternative approach for understanding the geographic diversity of Gifford Arboretum’s collec-

tions is to consider species’ climatic distributions. A common technique used in ecology for predicting

where species occur is to superimpose occurrence and climatic data like mean annual temperature and an-

nual precipitation. Mean annual temperature and annual precipitation are also two variables that are classi-

cally used to define different biomes. Calculating the average mean annual temperature and average annual

precipitation across a given species’ distribution can provide an approximation of the biome that a species

is likely to represent. The average

climatic distributions for species in

the Gifford Arboretum suggest most

species hail from six different biomes

(Figure 2). Most species are likely to

be from tropical seasonal forests or

savanna biomes, while only 17 are

representative of temperate seasonal

forests. The remainder of the biomes

represented in Gifford Arboretum’s

collections in, descending order, are:

Woodland/shrubland (23 species),

Tropical Rain forest (14 species),

Subtropical desert (9 species), and

Temperate grassland/desert (2 spe-

cies).

While this visualization exer-

cise can improve our appreciation for

the geographic distributions and bi-

omes represented in the Gifford Ar-

boretum’s plant collections, this in-

formation can also be of great inter-

est to scientists. The geographic di-

versity represented within many gar-

dens provides access to species with vastly different ecological and evolutionary histories. In other words,

instead of traveling to distant field sites, scientists can harness the diversity of botanic gardens and arboreta

to study ecological and evolutionary patterns in plants. Tropical gardens especially are potentially valuable

for this reason because tropical plants are historically understudied compared to plants from temperate are-

as.

Mapping techniques similar to those above are increasingly used in ecological disciplines

to understand why species occur where they do. However, access to this information is not lim-

ited to scientists. Anyone who is interested in learning more about species’ geographic ranges

of can freely access a number of websites to generate their own maps. Popular resources that

can be used to visualize species’ occurrences include the Global Biodiversity Information Facil-

ity (GBIF; www.gbif.org), and the Integrated Digitized Biocollections (www.idigbio.org/portal/

search), and iNaturalist (www.inaturalist.org/observations) websites. With these resources, you

can investigate the geographic origins and diversity of your own biological collections and gar-

dens. Happy mapping!

Figure 2: The average of species’ mean annual temperature and

precipitation for each species represented in Gifford Arboretum.

Each point represents the mean for a different species. All species

are plotted over their representative biome. Biome labels are in the

top left corner of the figure. The red dot indicates the biome repre-

sented by Gifford Arboretum.

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Fall 2018 Arboretum Activities

On September 5, the semester got off to a great start when Dr. M. Pat-

rick Griffith, the Executive Director of Montgomery Botanical Center, spoke

on “Managing Plant Collections in time of Conservation Threats” to our

group. It was an excellent presentation and attracted a standing room only

crowd as Dr. Griffith discussed various global threats facing conservation,

which range from climate change to wars, poaching and other environmental

degradation caused by mankind. It is noteworthy that Dr. Griffith is a leader in

planning and preparing for the future by modeling and considering how cli-

mate change will impact the property and extensive collections at Montgom-

ery Botanical Center. Other gardens should follow his lead.

On September 23, the Arboretum group and the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society en-

joyed a tour of the Arboretum's extensive collection of trees and shrubs native to South Florida. The tour was

led by Arboretum Director, Steve Pearson and was focused primarily on Exhibit 12, the South Florida Natives,

located on both sides of the parking lot that intrudes into the Arboretum. However, it also included other Flori-

da natives and some of their cousins located in other Arboretum Exhibit areas.

On October 3, Mr. Mike Winterstein, an Agricultural Research Technician at the USDA Agriculture

Research Service's Subtropical Horticulture Research Station in Miami, presented “USDA/ARS Research at

Chapman Field and GRIN Global.” He provided a lot of information starting with an overview of the Station,

which is also known as “Chapman Field.” It is named for an aviator who died in World War I; was selected as

a plant introduction station by Dr. David Fairchild; and was a place where Drs. Fairchild and Walter Swingle

worked together during its early years. Mr. Winterstein then surveyed some of the remarkable agricultural re-

search that has and continues to be done there; discussed the importance of its germplasm collections; and de-

scribed some of the current work, which includes helping the cacao industry fight diseases and develop better

cultivars; introducing new ornamental species; and distributing plants, cuttings or seeds of many plants im-

portant to agriculture. Mr. Winterstein concluded with a description of some of the online resources available

from ARS and the USDA, and invited the group to dive in and learn more. GRIN Global is the Germplasm

Resource Information Network for the National Plant Germplasm System and can be seen and used at http://

www.ars-grin.gov. It also connects to lots of other information about ARS and its scientists as well.

On October 17, we enjoyed a Music in the Arboretum performance

following a tour of some of the Arboretum trees by Steve Pearson, including

Colvillea racemosa (Colville's Glory) blooming extensively and for the first

time with its characteristic spikes of deep orange and yellow flowers, Lon-

chocarpols violaceus (Lancepod) adorned with masses of lavender flowers,

and some interesting, new additions to the Arboretum. Our music perfor-

mance that evening was by Victor Rubio Carrillo, a very talented graduate

student at the Frost School of Music. He plays many instruments but guitar is

his primary instrument, along with his voice. Using echo effects he builds

original songs that layer sound like one would expect from a group of players.

The audience loved it and Victor appeared to relax and increasingly enjoy

himself during the performance. He noted what a beautiful place the Arbore-

tum is and said that he was honored to perform there.

On October 25, FIU Senior Instructor in Biology, Dr. John Cozza (who earned his Ph.D. at UM and

was the Arboretum's Curator following Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina when the Arboretum was reorganized

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and extensively replanted) and current Arboretum Curator, Tim Perez, led a “Sacred and Magical Tree Tour”

in the Arboretum. This is always a fun and educational tour, and it is timed to correspond with Halloween. It is

highly recommended and should occur again next October.

On November 2 and 9, Steve Pearson and Tim Perez led Arbo-

retum tours as part of a Biology Department sponsored outreach to in-

troduce grade school children to science. The children particularly en-

joyed seeing and touching cycads and imaging dinosaurs trying to eat

them, tasting some of the fruit in the Arboretum, and smelling aromatic

leaves and fruit from plants like allspice, bay rum, and noni.

On November 7, another standing room only crowd came to hear Dr.

Richard Campbell present “New and Recommended Mango Varieties, and

How to Grow Mangoes Organically.” Considered one of the world's foremost

authorities on mangoes, Dr. Campbell previously started and led the Tropical

Fruit program at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden for sixteen years. Today,

he is Senior Vice President of Global Operations for Ciruli Brothers, an inter-

national fruit grower and vendor that has large mango farms in Mexico and

other countries. Dr Campbell also has a local mango business called “The Man-

go Men” with his sons. Richard comes from a family of great plantsmen and it

was nice to see that his children share this passion. The lecture was extremely

informative on many levels and a couple of the many lessons were to never put

mango fruit in a refrigerator while they are ripening; on the advantages of prop-

er pruning and keeping your mango trees small; and that you don't need irriga-

tion or to fertilize mango trees in our area, excepting possibly occasional applications of potassium.

On November 14, we enjoyed a Music in the Arboretum performance by Jordan Rattner and his Jazz

Trio. They played a delightful program of jazz that featured Jordan's guitar on a diverse selection of jazz favor-

ites. All three members were showcased at different times and they all clearly enjoyed playing in the Arbore-

tum. The audience also enjoyed listening to what was a great show in a beautiful location.

On November 17, our Arboretum group had an opportunity to take a walking tour of the Montgomery

Botanical Center led by its Director, Dr. Patrick Griffith. MBC contains the best or one of the world's very best

collections of palms and cycads, and they are maintained in accordance with the highest standards of horticul-

ture and planted in accordance with a landscaping plan that creates a beautiful garden with incredible vistas

and views. MBC prides itself

on maintaining collections of

wild collected species, and no

other garden in this area comes

close to creating and maintain-

ing such scientifically valuable

collections. Dr. Griffith and

his staff obviously take great

pride in their work, and the

results were inspiring. Every-

one that attended said that it

was a great and fun tour!

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New and Exciting Developments at the Arboretum:

I. Sustainability Garden in the Arboretum Most of you know about the new Arboretum expansion area for a new greenhouse, but we have another

development that is bringing a whole new realm of opportunity for UM students to learn about and engage

with plants! The old dump has now been removed and that area has been rededicated for use for student gar-

dens. Although Biology Professor Kathleen Sealy and Sustainability Coordinator Teddy L’houtellier have also

been active in making this happen, the two driving forces behind this development have been Professor Rich-

ard Weisskoff and Professor Terri Hood.

The first garden was started in the greenhouse

expansion area after Dr. Weisskoff, Professor and Chair,

International Studies Department, asked about using

part of the area until the greenhouse construction was

ready to begin. Steve Pearson agreed and the initial

course and garden were a big success. Dr. Weisskoff

wrote “The Arboretum has been both cornerstone and

lifeblood for two new “Global Food” courses offered by

the International Studies Department. On land “lent”

temporarily by the Arboretum, 20 students per semester

prepare the soil, plant, weed, water, harvest, cook, and

compost tropical edible perennials. Steve Pearson’s

guided tours through the Arboretum also blew our

minds and inspired our effort: how varied and how deli-

cious are the tree-ripened fruits growing right on campus!

The Students of “Global Food: A Hands-On Approach” thank all the Arboretum’s supporters for making our

course possible!”

While Dr. Weisskoff may have gotten things started, but Dr. Terri Hood has

been the main person driving the conversion of the dump area and starting the first gar-

dens there. Both of these professors are very dedicated to not only teaching students

about the importance of plants, but also about how becoming proactive with them can

be good for one’s health, both mentally and physically, as well as the environment.

Cudos and congratulations to both of them for providing a new avenue for UM stu-

dents to engage with and learn about the world of plants.

II. New Bench in Arboretum Thanks are extended to Lynn Meyer, who gifted a beautiful new bench to the Arboretum in remem-

brance of her deceased husband, former UM Physics Professor Arnold Perlmutter. The bench was designed

and built by local plantsman and artist, Lee Cicchella, and adds a new place where Arboretum guests can sit to

rest, converse or engage in quiet reflection. Daytime is the best time to appreciate the bench’s intricate design,

but it has a special magic at night when certain luminescent parts of the design glow in the dark.

UM Law Professor Bernie Perlmutter, son of

Arnold Perlmutter, enjoys the new bench with

his wife, attorney Pam Chamberlin (left)

A view of the top of the bench as a ‘wild and

crazy dog’ named “Stomper” enjoys a rest in

its shade (right)

Dr. Weisskoff (kneeling in front) with some of

his students and their first garden

Dr. Terri Hood by a banana plant in the new Sustainability Garden/ former dump

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The following donations of plants and other in kind contributions are also recognized and much appreciated:

Cut Rite Tree Service

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Leonard Goldstein

Gary Hunt

Lynn Meyer

Montgomery Botanical Center

Tian Pavel

Steve Pearson

Patricia Phares

Plantscapes Nursery

Silent Native Nursery

True Tree Service

Ron Weeks

Bob Welsh

Thank you to our Supporters! EVERY DONATION to the Arboretum is significant and appreciated, and I am very pleased to

acknowledge and publicly thank the following recent donors. If I have inadvertently missed anyone, please

accept my sincere apology. Everyone who helps is making a difference!

Leonard and Jayne Abess

Ana Adriazola-Rodriguez

Traci A. Ardren

Donald L. Berg

Coral Gables Garden Club

Dylan Cohen

Council of Garden Club Presidents of

Dade County

Elvis Cruz

Marian Dahman

Nora Denslow

Julie Dow

Andrea England

Juan Espinosa- Almodovar

Ken and Kim Fairman

Donald Fischer

Douglas Fuller

Ghislaine Greene

Christopher Gunther

Charles J. Hillson

Cami Hofstadter

Carol Horvitz- Nutt

Cecilia W. Irvine

Tracy Kearin

Martha Kent

Olga Lagomasino

Eleanor Lahn

Linda Lawrence

Lawrence Liggett

Herbert & Roselle Mack Charitable

Foundation

John I. McKinstry

Wilhelmina Myerburg

Steven M. Moore

National Council of Garden Clubs

John B. Pascarella

Stephene and Seog Soon Pearson

Man. Perez de la Mesa

Bernard P. Perlmutter

Joseph Perlmutter

Patricia L. Phares

Lazaro C. Priegues

Donna J. Rich

Gene Rosenberg

Joan P. Schwebel

Christopher and Christiane Tyson

United Way of Miami-Dade County

Julian Valencia

Beth Werner

Katherine and Brian Yanks

Beauty and the Beast

A beautiful vine is growing on the oak in

Exhibit 10, the Sapindales. It is Petrea

racemosa, sometimes called queen's

wreath or southern wisteria. The vine is a

fast grower and has leaves that are rough

like sandpaper. It produces large quanti-

ties of showy, lavender flowers in the

fall. However, it is NOT recommended

for wide distribution. The reason is that it

seems to be highly invasive and seedlings

are regularly pulled in the Arboretum. A

preferable species is Petrea volubis which

looks almost exactly the same, but is not

nearly as aggressive in sprouting seed-

lings.

A Very Great Surprise

One of the Arboretum's rarest trees is Myristica frangrans, a plant best known for

the spices it produces: nutmeg and mace. These were two of the most sought after

spices during the spice wars that started in the 15th century and continued into the

17th. These wars were primarily between the Dutch and the Portuguese, but Spain

and England also participated.

Growing only in the Moluccas, islands that are part of Indonesia, this species is an

evergreen tree that produces small yellow flowers and fruit with a fleshy husk that

splits into halves when ripe. Inside is a purplish brown shiny seed with a crimson

covering that is called an aril. The seed is the source of nutmeg. and the aril is the

source of mace. The leaves are dark green and alternate.

Normally, this species is dioecious,

meaning that male and female flowers

appear on separate individuals. However,

individuals will occasionally produce

both kinds of flowers and I am happy to

report that the Arboretum's specimen is

one of those rare types. It currently has 2

fruit on it! One of these is already open-

ing and, depending on its progress, we

may harvest it and examine it more close-

ly at our annual picnic.

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